The blistering return to action of Luis Suárez has stopped any potential slide in form that Liverpool had hinted at with successive games without a win towards the end of September. In 3 games in October, Brendan Rodgers' side have scored 9 goals, with Suárez scoring 4 and setting up teammate Daniel Sturridge for one more, in doing so obtaining an average rating of 9.05 to win WhoScored's latest player of the month award.
In each of his appearances in October, the Uruguayan did well enough to score the man of the match award, his hat-trick against West Brom gaining the final of those. In fact, that performance was the best by any player in Europe's top 5 leagues this month and the second best all season, with Suárez completing 5 successful dribbles to go with his 3 goals from 8 shots. What is more, despite missing the first 5 Premier League games of the season through suspension, no player has been the highest-rated player in more matches than Suárez (3). His performances this month have reminded fans of what they had been missing, and he has the chance this weekend to start November by showing Arsenal exactly what they missed out on when they failed to sign him in the summer.
His partnership up front with Daniel Sturridge has proved, so far, to be one of the most dangerous the Premier League has witnessed in recent years, and the Englishman's performances were nearly enough to join Suárez in the team of the month, but the exploits of Pierre-Michel Lasogga meant he missed out.
Lasogga has starred for Hamburg in recent weeks, scoring 5 goals in 3 October appearances, including a hat-trick in a 5-0 win at Nurnberg. Hamburg have scored 23 goals already this season, a tally that only Dortmund and Hoffenheim (both 25) can better, and that is in no small part down the Lasogga. At only 21 years of age, Lasogga has established himself at Under-21 international level, and with his performances enough to make him the best-rated youngster according to WhoScored for the month of October, they could also be sufficient grab the attention of senior team manager Joachim Löw in a World Cup year. His German squad arguably at it's weakest up front, where his most recent squad included only Max Kruse and he has recently opted to field Mario Götze as a false 9 rather than an orthodox option in Miroslav Klose or Mario Gomez.
Lasogga is joined in the October team of the month by teammate Rafael van der Vaart and 4 others aged 21-or-under, including Barcelona's Neymar. Van der Vaart has looked back to his best over the past month, with 3 goals and 2 assists in 3 appearances, combining his experience impressively with the youth of Lasogga to mark a good month for Hamburg.
Neymar was key in Barcelona's Clasico win over Real Madrid in his last outing, scoring the first before laying on Alexis Sanchez's winner to go with his goal and assist in the win over Valladolid earlier in the month. Furthermore, he managed a man of the match performance as Barcelona failed to score for the first time in 65 Liga games at Osasuna. In that game, Neymar provided Barcelona's best creative threat with 8 successful dribbles, a tally only a few players topped in a game all month, including Neymar himself against Valladolid.
It has increasingly become part of the modern game that young players can play in defence, going against the traditional view that experience is key at the back. Accordingly, 3 youngsters have made it into the defence in WhoScored's team of the month, joining West Ham's Winston Reid who played a key role in the Hammers' two clean sheets in 2 away October outings.
All 21 years of age, Sampdoria's Shkodran Mustafi, Sassuolo's Luca Antei and Wolfsburg's Ricardo Rodriguez make up the back four, each with a string of fine performances that have defied their tender years. In making 11 interceptions against Bologna, as well as a last man tackle and a clearance off the line, Antei was man of the match and has started every game since, establishing himself as a first team regular who has a bright future ahead of him. Attributed as 'Very Strong' at both aerial duels and interceptions and 'Strong' at tackling and blocking the ball, he looks to have everything in place to become a top player.
Mustafi and Rodriguez look like full-backs that could go a long way, too, each picking up an assist in October having cemented their first team berths earlier in the season. Mustafi has made an extremely impressive combined total of 6.7 tackles and interceptions in each of his appearances this campaign, while Rodriguez provides a more attacking option, completing 1.4 dribbles per game and making 1.8 key passes.
It has, though, remained a month that has been all about Luis Suárez. His performance against West Brom capped an incredible return to the pace of the Premier League despite playing catch up having missed the beginning of the season. In scoring 4 goals in October, he netted more times than 32 of the 98 teams in Europe's top 5 leagues managed overall (excluding own goals). With a tough run of games coming up in November including trips to Arsenal and Everton, Suárez will do extremely well to make it into next month's best-performing XI, but on current form there is nothing to suggest he won't.
Who were October's best performers in your opinion? Let us know in the comments below
